Siren's Mark

Chapter 38

"Desperate? No shit!" he says. "Desperate enough for lethe? That is what this is—isn't it?"

I nod again.

"Weren't you the one who warned me against using lethe? What happened to 'only idiots use lethe to forget their problems'? What happened to 'it's the worst comedown of your life'?"

He's not wrong. Lethe will make you forget for a while, but when those memories come back they hit you like a sledgehammer to the skull. Whatever I wanted to forget, it must have been bad. But the last thing I want to do is waste whatever time I have focusing on what I clearly didn't want to remember.

In a swift motion, he grabs a small pronged knife from behind the bar and stabs it hard down into the flesh between my thumb and forefinger.

"Bloody hell!" I say, flinching as the tip of the knife contorts and snaps off as it contacts my hand.

"Just making sure," he says with a smile. "Plus, it's fun to scare the shit out of you."

I lower my eyebrows and glare at him.

"You're hilarious, mate," I grumble.

"I've always thought so," he says with a smirk. "So how much did you forget?"

"Well, based on the date on my phone, about five years."

"Shit, Z-Man."

"I told you not to call me that," I say with a glare.

"Yeah, well now you've learned to love it," he says with a smile.

I doubt that.

"Does Kami know?" he asks.

"About the lethe? I'm not sure," I say. " I just woke up, found the bottle and this..."

I hold up my phone. It's a few years nicer than the one I'm used to. Turns out wiping your memory is a lot more convenient in the era of cell phones.

"I saw the date and did the math. Saw on my phone that your number was listed as 'Kieran/The Pike' so I was curious and found the place. You're a bartender now? How fitting."

"Beer and drunk hotties—my favorite things," he says with a smirk.

"I had a bunch of missed calls from Kami too, but I don't particularly feel like getting scolded right now," I say.

"Oh yeah, she's gonna kill you," he says with a bit of a smile that says he's finally enjoying me being the fuckup for a change.

Another customer down the bar waves to get Kieran's attention and he steps over to help him.

I take another drink of my beer and I hear a woman's footsteps approaching me from behind. A woman in a red button-up blouse and tight jeans takes the seat beside me at the bar.

Of course I've lured in a human without even trying. With everything I've got going on right now, I'm not interested in another meaningless conquest.

"Hey," she says with a soft voice.

"Hi," I say without turning to make eye contact.

Take a hint, lady.

"Have I seen you here before?" she asks.

Really? It seems there hasn't been a lot of innovation in pickup lines over the last five years.

"You know, I'm not sure, love," I say. "My memory's not so great these days."

I chuckle to myself at the bad inside joke.

"Can I buy you a drink?" she asks.

"Sure," I say. Now that I think about it, I don't know what else I'm supposed to do with my time.